Tower of Psephinus

View looking south at the Tower of Psephinus—left of center—that was located in the northwestern corner of the Third Wall of Jerusalem.  The wall to the right of the tower leads south towards the present day “Jaffa Gate.”

This tower may have been built by Herod Agrippa I (A.D. 41–44) who began building the third wall.  According to the Jewish historian Josephus, this tower was 115 ft. [35 m.] high and he maintains that from it one could see the Mediterranean Sea to the west and the mountains of Transjordan to the east.  The latter seems more plausible than the former!

The Tower of Psephinus may have been located in what today is “west Jerusalem”—near the “Russian Compound” but no archaeological remains have been found to-date.